(Well, here's chapter 5. I'm not sure about the geographical location of
places in Black Mesa, so I don't know if there is an outer gate in the
complex, but it gives good reason for the next objective. Wow, I was
extremely surprised by the amount of people (well, actually two) who
thought the slave praying to the Nihilanth was great. I just added the
scene so I could introduce the drones. Well, the slave's incredibly
grateful for those who liked him, and to express his gratitude, I'm letting
him answer your reviews.
...
Errgh... umm... oh yeah, umm, hello all you humans, I'm Eqqwua, that slave who prayed to our lord Nihilanth. Thanks for all who supported me, I really enjoyed it. So, I'm going to answer your reviews, instead of the normal routine of MikeFS answering them. So, let's get on with it, shall we?
Hao and zUg mAh oAtaX: Nice to see you like the story, personally I hate it how my brothers were dropping like flies in chapter 4. And special thanks to Hao for supporting me!
Blizrun: Yes, the scientist human was from your story. MikeFS told me to mention that he's happy you don't mind. But for the mod idea, terrible! Those cruel brothers of mine betrayed my lord! I at least will be sending lots of hate-mail to whoever makes such a mod.
Raider: Although MikeFS said that he's happy you think chapter 4 was the best, I strongly disagree, you sadistic evil... person type person! No one ever thinks of what the slave feels like when his friend dies... But thanks for supporting me! I owe you!
...
Well, I guess that was it. Thanks to all who reviewed and a special thanks to Eqqwua for answering your reviews. This chapter starts to differ from Half-Life (aliens with guns), but not as much as when the (not-so) mysterious guy from Santa Fe appears, so enjoy this for as long as it's still Half-Life!
Chapter 5: Advanced Rebellion
The scientist sat in the small lab room's table, facing the only door out of the tiny room. It was long ago that he had gotten over the shock of seeing his mates being massacred by the military. He had killed off the small team, and now sat in the room, his eyes closed. He concentrated on listening: if he could hear a noise, he could define what manner of creature made the noise, and he would know exactly where to aim the rifle he had "borrowed" from the military to kill in a few shots.
He was repeating over and over again in his mind the different sounds the aliens and marines emitted, when his thoughts were interrupted by gunfire coming from behind the door. Marines, he immediately thought, and lifted his gun to aim at the doorway. Most of the marines were just about the same length, so he knew where the marine's head would be when he would fling the door open. The scientist silently sat there, waiting for the door to open. And it did.
As soon as the dark room flooded with light from the corridor, the scientist screamed with rage and started firing. He had already emptied his clip when he realized in horror that his bullets were passing over his enemy's head. Too late did he realize he wasn't shooting at a marine but an alien slave. Angrily, the slave fired his own assault rifle, and the scientist fell back. His last thought before dying was wondering how the aliens were able to learn to use firearms.
The slave waved to the side, and soon the small room started to fill with alien slaves armed with various weaponry. They studied the room, but found that there was nothing to use for their revolution here except the "small guns" the "men in blue" used. Disappointed, the leader signaled a lunch break, and the slaves started hungrily picking on the dead corpses in the room.
-----
Dylan stood on the dam, leaning against the railing. He watched the bodies of aliens and soldiers float in the dam's waters. He was really distressed over his actions on the dam. His manic battling reminded him of his brother's killer. Then he finally shrugged the thought away. That man had no right to do so; here, fighting was the only way to survive.
Finally pleased, Dylan walked off to hang with the other marines, resting on the dam. Meanwhile, Major Hickory was walking with Manners.
"Did you know, Manners, that we might be pulling out soon?" Hickory asked.
"No, sir! But why?!" Manners asked surprised.
"This task is starting to become too great for us. With the appearance of the alien drones, the alien amount has increased. And there's more aliens out there. I got a call from the Lambda Team, guarding the Lambda Complex perimeters, of a new aerial enemy."
"A task too big for the U.S. military?!" Manners shook his head in disbelief.
"Yep. If we do retreat, we'll commence air strikes on this godforsaken place. But for now, we'll continue fighting. I have a job for you, Manners."
"Anything you like, sir."
"The dam is well secured, but I'm getting less and less reports from the gate area," Hickory pointed towards the massive gates.
"Well, why don't you look behind it?"
"Oh, don't be stupid," Hickory chuckled. "I mean the outer gate, that one's the inner gate."
"Oh, right," Manners said sheepishly.
"Your team's much more skilled in traveling here, so I'm sending your group to make a patrol to the outer gate."
"Yes, sir, I'll prepare the troops right away!" Manners said. He then walked over to the middle of the dam. "All right, my group! We're setting out!"
Dylan walked with the rest of his squad over to Manners.
"Open the gates!" Hickory called, and a few marines ran to the controls by the side. "Manners, I'm giving you a little back-up," Hickory said and motioned to the side. One of the tanks started rolling towards them. Dylan couldn't help but smile as he saw the monstrous machine coming to their aid. They all stood there and waited as the massive gates rolled to the side.
-----
The slave stared horrified as his brother fell to the side. A small group of marines were firing at their ragged bunch. The drones kept ushering the slaves on, while firing at the marines making a stand in the small courtyard. Out of nowhere, both sides stopped and stared as a bullet struck into one of the marines. Soon a hail of rifle fire came down upon the marines. The slave watched in wonder as from behind the buildings corner, a pack of slaves gallantly marched. The slave couldn't believe his eyes: these new slaves were armed with enemy weaponry!
The leading slave sneered, then calmly lifted up his assault rifle. He pulled the trigger and put a bullet in the head of one of the drones. The other slaves started picking out the drones before they had a chance to retaliate. The leading slave marched up to his unarmed brethren after the carnage ended.
"Brothers, I am ending our toil with those brutes. We are going to break our shackles and escape the Nihilanth and his agents. Are you with me?"
"Brother, our life is perfect as it is," one of the slaves said, still surprised. "We are protected by the holy Nihilanth and work for the good of our lives."
"And a good job our lord has done protecting us here," the leader scowled. "We do not work for our good, we work for his benefit. And it is not an occupation we choose, but one which is forced to us upon birth. One in which we toil and are harshly beaten for stopping. Now, are you with me?"
"We are!" an enthusiastic slave said stepping past his companions. "Tell us our assignment in this resistance, and I guarantee we will fulfill it to the best of our abilities!" The others nodded dubiously with him.
"Good," the leader nodded. "I am giving you the honorary task of headcrab combatant," he gestured, and one of his mates carried a writhing bag to them. "They're specially trained to avoid "crabbing" slaves. Let me explain how to fight with them..."
-----
Dylan couldn't understand what was going on. They had traveled past a few buildings, yet things were eerily quiet. The area was littered with bodies, but not just of marines. There were corpses of drones among them. Although the tank was rolling behind them, Dylan couldn't help but feel frightened. Adam seemed to share the same feelings behind him, and was clutching his gun tightly.
"Oh... my... god," a marine said and pointed at a soldier's body. "Look! Bullet holes!"
"Does this mean that we have renegades?" Manners asked. No one could answer, so they continued on. They came to a clearing, and most marines stopped dead in their tracks.
The clearing was littered with beheaded bodies of scientists and marines. In the middle, a cluster of metal bars were placed. On each bar, a bloody head of a human had been stuck on. Dylan wondered who was brutal enough to create such an act. He kept staring in shock, but his thoughts were broken when everything turned red in his eyes for a second. Dylan wondered what it was and turned to ask Adam if he saw anything, but stopped. A small infra- red dot was pointing at Adam's forehead.
"Adam, duck!" he leaped at his friend. They both fell on the ground just as gunfire was heard. A bullet went straight into a nearby marine's leg.
"Shit! Snipers!" Manners cursed, frantically looking around the field for their enemy. Another marine flew backwards from the force as a bullet was imbedded in his head. Dylan saw the dot appear on his stomach, and rolled to the side just as another shot rang. He leaped up and looked at one of the windows. Though it was dark and he couldn't see who was firing, he saw a sniper rifle's barrel sticking out.
"There!" he called and lobbed a grenade into the window. The hole lighted for a second, and the rifle fell from the window. Now a new threat appeared as the marines heard a slave's gibberish talk from above. They looked up to see one pounce from a roof, holding... a headcrab! It landed on one of the marines and stuck the crab onto the man's head. He squirmed for a second, then fell limp. More of these headcrab combatants started leaping down, but now the marines backed away and opened fire.
But Dylan stopped for a second to watch as the slave did the most unexpected thing possible: after crabbing the man, he grabbed the marine's rifle and started firing.
"Oh damn!" Dylan yelled and started shooting at this slave. It collapsed on the body of the headcrabbed soldier. Dylan hoped that was the only alien slave with the ability to use firearms, but his hopes fell as the door to one of the buildings burst open. He looked to see more of the filthy slaves appear, armed with all kinds of weapons. He started backing away as a burly slave stepped out, brandishing a machine gun. Slow backing turned into frantic running as he dashed for cover behind the tank as the gun started firing at them. Most marines did the same thing and hid behind the tank.
Dylan grabbed a grenade and started to pull the pin, when he felt the hard metal of a pistol in the back of his head. He heard alien gibberish and the sound of the trigger being slowly pulled. He spun around and knocked the slave off balance. The alien threw his gun in the air as it collapsed, which Dylan grabbed from midair and emptied into the slave.
"Move for that alley!" Manners yelled to the tank, which started to lurch at the gap between the buildings. The marines ran along with the tank, using it for cover as they fired at he aliens. A soldier dropped dead next do Dylan as the aliens continued their fire. A slave ran through the mass of attacking aliens, and threw a projectile into the air. Only once it started to fall, Dylan saw it was a grenade. He ran backwards and heard as the shell blew up. He slowly turned to see two more men down. He quickly hid behind the tank, as he was a sitting duck alone in the field.
The tank now moved into the alleyway, and the marines ran in front of it. They continued on into another clearing, but dived backwards as a rocket flew right in front of them. Dylan peered behind the corner to see an alien manning a missile turret.
"We can't afford to lose the tank! Henderson, take out that missile launcher before the tank gets into the area!" Manners yelled, and Dylan hurried off, too much in a hurry to question the reason why HE had to take out the machine.
-----
The rebellion's leader watched as one of his faction's members manned the missile turret. The thing worked much like the guns, so the slave didn't have trouble learning to pilot it. The leader was surprised that there were more humans here. He had only a little while ago cleared the area when he put up the decapitated heads for headcrab bait, and didn't expect more to appear.
Now he humored himself watching as one of the silly humans ran from his cover. The missile launcher started firing, but the human was faster and ran from the spot where the rocket struck. The human dived for cover behind one of the barrels holding the strange black flammable liquid.
"Hah! The fool doesn't understand what predicament he's in. It's an easy shot from here!" the leader laughed, and watched in sadistic glee as the missile set off. His eyes were fixed onto the missile as it passed through the air, striking into the oil barrel, making a cosmic explosion. His calm posture, however, changed into worried as something was wrong. Where was the body?
"NO!" he screamed. He had watched the missile so concentrated, that he hadn't watched what the human was doing. He, along with the few slaves with him, looked around for the human.
"There he is!" one yelled, and pointed to a window of one of the buildings. The leader realized the human must have dived through the window into the house. The launcher turned towards, but too slowly: soon the human was next to the launcher and fired a grenade. The leader ran off as the launcher behind him blew up into a smoldering pile of junk metal. Now truly worried, he started scurrying with his companions. Luck was on his side, though: from behind one of the corners came one of his mates on a Hummer.
"What, pray tell, is that?" the leader asked curiously.
"I haven't the slightest clue, sir. But whatever it is, it's surprisingly mobile. Climb aboard!" the slave waved to the leader, who climbed into the Hummer. The others tried to fit in, but not all fitted, and had to make due by hanging on the Hummer, which sped off away from the action.
-----
Dylan sighed as he saw the missile launcher burst in to flames, and ran back over to the other marines. It was safe for the tank to travel on now, which it did. The marines backed up along with the iron monster, firing from behind it. The slaves were slowly starting to stop in their tracks, not wanting to come face to face with the tank's projectiles.
"Major Hickory, sir, we have a problem," Manners called on his radio.
"Again?" Hickory's annoyed answer came.
"This is bad, sir. The alien slaves have the ability and resources to use firearms, grenades, and other weaponry."
"You're kidding. Keep heading for the outer gates, we'll secure the inner gate. I'll send the Apache to patrol around that area."
"Yes, sir," Manners closed the transmission and started to head down the path where the missile launcher had stood moments ago. "This way! The tank can stay here and hold back the aliens!"
-----
The rebellion leader sat along with the driver in the Hummer, amazed by the speed in the thing. He found this new machine quite handy.
Yet his greatest surprise came around the rocky mesa. As the Hummer came around, the leader's eyes fell upon a small heliport with an Apache on it. A small resistance squad of marines were wearily resting, having barely survived a fight with some drones. The leader signaled one of his brothers to climb up and man the gun. The marines watched in horror as their teammates were shred next to them, and soon shared the same fate.
As the gun stopped firing, the leader climbed out of the Hummer and went to take a look at the Apache. He marveled at the metallic bird, then turned towards the other slaves.
"I want you to search the area for more of these toys! You two, come help me study how to pilot this new contraption!"
-----
Dylan and the marines ran down the path after Manners. They passed a mountain on the side, but looked warily at the garage building to their side. Dylan grimly noted that one of the garage doors had been shred open and that it was conveniently empty of cars. The sound of gunfire and tank fire came from behind the corner. They now saw the outer gate, metallic sliding double doors on a wall stamped between two mesas. There were a few guard buildings around the area.
"So, this is our current objective," Manners said. "Now where's..." Manners' words were cut short as he saw what had caused the Team reports lessen. The ground was covered with burning craters, and body parts littered the sand.
"Looks like rocket launcher shots," Adam said as the marines gathered around the crater area.
"If the aliens have rocket launchers, then we're..." Dylan's fears became true as a roaring voice came from above. The marines looked up: three slaves with rocket launchers stood on the roof of one of the security buildings.
"Spread out!" Manners called, and they started running for cover. A few unfortunately slow marines were blown to pieces. The force sent Dylan flying onto the ground. He found himself to be behind a burning Jeep, but another rocket came at him and he watched in awe as the Jeep jumped upwards, then started to plummet at him. Dylan rolled to the side, barely dodging the flaming vehicle. He jumped upwards and ran for cover behind a barrel as the ground around him started to fill with craters.
The marines were making a stand behind Jeeps and rubble, firing at the slaves on top of the building. Dylan decided to run for the Jeeps, considering the barrel a bit too small to be effective. Yet he stopped trying to run for cover as a working Jeep with three aliens came around one of the corners, and straight at him.
The aliens stared maniacally as Dylan, instead of jumping to the side, ran straight at the Jeep. At the last moment, Dylan dived forwards, smashing through the windshield and between the aliens on the seats. Ironically, the same thing had happened earlier, only it had been the alien which had suddenly appeared among the passengers. Not wasting time though, Dylan immediately landed a punch on the driving alien. He then started to push it out, and to help out the job, stuck a bullet or two into the alien's head. The dead slave rolled out of the car as Dylan took the wheel.
The other slaves angrily clawed at Dylan, who shrugged the pain off and veered the Jeep left. It started suddenly go straight at the building the slaves stood on.
"Buh-bye," Dylan grinned dropping a pinless grenade into the Jeep and jumping out. The car slammed into the security building, causing an explosion which shook the very foundations of the building. One of the slaves looked worriedly down as the wall crumbled under him, causing him to fall. Two marines picked him out quickly and rejoiced. Their celebration was cut short as another rocket struck one of them in the chest.
The aliens were apparently not satisfied with fighting Dam Team with cars, and down the road they had come from came the same Hummer the slave leader had escaped on. Dylan scurried for cover behind a wrecked car as the ground near him started filling with bullets. One of the remaining two rocket trooper slaves leaped off the building roof and onto the car's roof, where they continued pelting.
Now all marines stood up to run around, since cover wasn't going to be of use against such a mobile enemy. The Hummer u-turned towards the marines, and Dylan started to run as two rockets started passing towards them. Dylan ran from one and dived over the other, cuddling into a ball to survive the initial explosion. He stood up, only to duck as he was fired from the roof of the Hummer. The car soon stopped taking aim at him, and concentrated on killing the other marines. Dylan fired a grenade from his rifle, which soared across the sky, blowing up near the Hummer. It winded for a moment, then straightened out and turned to make another attack.
No one was trying to kill Dylan at the moment, so he started firing at the attacking vehicle, which came closer and closer... in fact, Dylan realized, the driver was going to ram him! He fell flat onto the ground, then rolled onto his back as the Hummer drove over him. He fired at the bottom of the car with his rifle, which seemed to have effect as the Hummer no longer drove in a straight line. Then a rocket flew only a few feet away from him.
For a second, Dylan didn't know what was going on. He only felt himself float and suddenly land on the ground. For a second he could only hazily pick out the sound of gunfire, and wearily stood up. That blast had hurt a lot. Soon his mind cleared and he realized it'd be hurting a lot more if he just sat there. So, he jumped upwards, and saw two things. First, the rocket trooper on the roof loaded another rocket and prepared to fire at him. Second, the Hummer was about to pass him.
"Only one chance to end this," Dylan shook his head. Hadn't he suffered enough? Putting his plan into motion, Dylan leaped forwards just as the slave fired another rocket. He flew forwards, and just at the right moment, the Hummer appeared next to him. Dylan pushed forwards on the hood, and flew past the Hummer. The rocket, however, struck straight into the engine. The Hummer blew up, skidding forwards as a wreck. The gunner wildly shook on the machine gun, firing upwards. He accidentally killed the remaining rocket slave before loosing his grip on the teetering gun and falling down, breaking his neck.
Dylan slowly stood up from the ground, and looked over at the marines. They were cheering at him. He smiled back, then collapsed from exhaustion.
-----
The slaves relentlessly barraged the tank. They had already given up using the human weapons, and now just crawled over the thing. One of the slaves found the hatch to the tank and opened it. He scurried in to find the machine that run this hellish monster, and soon found the reason: more humans.
Blood squirted out of the hatch and into the sky for a brief moment, then the slaves watched as the alien climbed out, drenched in human blood.
"Go get our leader. Tell him the silver beast has been tamed," the slave called to the others, and a group ran off while the others stayed to cheer their great victory.
-----
"Sir, come see this," Adam called from the top of the gate. He had climbed up onto the wall along with a few marines to scout for aliens, and the area was quiet, except...
Manners climbed up on the ladder and came to watch while a few marines tended Dylan on the ground. "What in the name of God..?"
They could see in the distance the large fencing shielding Black Mesa from the world. Behind it, they saw a dust cloud coming at them. As it came closer, Manners saw that it was a rugged group of trucks and some types of tanks that he hadn't seen before. They solemnly watched as the group crashed through the 10-foot fence and continued on towards Black Mesa. The marines uneasily gripped their weapons, unsure if these newcomers were friend or foe.
...
Errgh... umm... oh yeah, umm, hello all you humans, I'm Eqqwua, that slave who prayed to our lord Nihilanth. Thanks for all who supported me, I really enjoyed it. So, I'm going to answer your reviews, instead of the normal routine of MikeFS answering them. So, let's get on with it, shall we?
Hao and zUg mAh oAtaX: Nice to see you like the story, personally I hate it how my brothers were dropping like flies in chapter 4. And special thanks to Hao for supporting me!
Blizrun: Yes, the scientist human was from your story. MikeFS told me to mention that he's happy you don't mind. But for the mod idea, terrible! Those cruel brothers of mine betrayed my lord! I at least will be sending lots of hate-mail to whoever makes such a mod.
Raider: Although MikeFS said that he's happy you think chapter 4 was the best, I strongly disagree, you sadistic evil... person type person! No one ever thinks of what the slave feels like when his friend dies... But thanks for supporting me! I owe you!
...
Well, I guess that was it. Thanks to all who reviewed and a special thanks to Eqqwua for answering your reviews. This chapter starts to differ from Half-Life (aliens with guns), but not as much as when the (not-so) mysterious guy from Santa Fe appears, so enjoy this for as long as it's still Half-Life!
Chapter 5: Advanced Rebellion
The scientist sat in the small lab room's table, facing the only door out of the tiny room. It was long ago that he had gotten over the shock of seeing his mates being massacred by the military. He had killed off the small team, and now sat in the room, his eyes closed. He concentrated on listening: if he could hear a noise, he could define what manner of creature made the noise, and he would know exactly where to aim the rifle he had "borrowed" from the military to kill in a few shots.
He was repeating over and over again in his mind the different sounds the aliens and marines emitted, when his thoughts were interrupted by gunfire coming from behind the door. Marines, he immediately thought, and lifted his gun to aim at the doorway. Most of the marines were just about the same length, so he knew where the marine's head would be when he would fling the door open. The scientist silently sat there, waiting for the door to open. And it did.
As soon as the dark room flooded with light from the corridor, the scientist screamed with rage and started firing. He had already emptied his clip when he realized in horror that his bullets were passing over his enemy's head. Too late did he realize he wasn't shooting at a marine but an alien slave. Angrily, the slave fired his own assault rifle, and the scientist fell back. His last thought before dying was wondering how the aliens were able to learn to use firearms.
The slave waved to the side, and soon the small room started to fill with alien slaves armed with various weaponry. They studied the room, but found that there was nothing to use for their revolution here except the "small guns" the "men in blue" used. Disappointed, the leader signaled a lunch break, and the slaves started hungrily picking on the dead corpses in the room.
-----
Dylan stood on the dam, leaning against the railing. He watched the bodies of aliens and soldiers float in the dam's waters. He was really distressed over his actions on the dam. His manic battling reminded him of his brother's killer. Then he finally shrugged the thought away. That man had no right to do so; here, fighting was the only way to survive.
Finally pleased, Dylan walked off to hang with the other marines, resting on the dam. Meanwhile, Major Hickory was walking with Manners.
"Did you know, Manners, that we might be pulling out soon?" Hickory asked.
"No, sir! But why?!" Manners asked surprised.
"This task is starting to become too great for us. With the appearance of the alien drones, the alien amount has increased. And there's more aliens out there. I got a call from the Lambda Team, guarding the Lambda Complex perimeters, of a new aerial enemy."
"A task too big for the U.S. military?!" Manners shook his head in disbelief.
"Yep. If we do retreat, we'll commence air strikes on this godforsaken place. But for now, we'll continue fighting. I have a job for you, Manners."
"Anything you like, sir."
"The dam is well secured, but I'm getting less and less reports from the gate area," Hickory pointed towards the massive gates.
"Well, why don't you look behind it?"
"Oh, don't be stupid," Hickory chuckled. "I mean the outer gate, that one's the inner gate."
"Oh, right," Manners said sheepishly.
"Your team's much more skilled in traveling here, so I'm sending your group to make a patrol to the outer gate."
"Yes, sir, I'll prepare the troops right away!" Manners said. He then walked over to the middle of the dam. "All right, my group! We're setting out!"
Dylan walked with the rest of his squad over to Manners.
"Open the gates!" Hickory called, and a few marines ran to the controls by the side. "Manners, I'm giving you a little back-up," Hickory said and motioned to the side. One of the tanks started rolling towards them. Dylan couldn't help but smile as he saw the monstrous machine coming to their aid. They all stood there and waited as the massive gates rolled to the side.
-----
The slave stared horrified as his brother fell to the side. A small group of marines were firing at their ragged bunch. The drones kept ushering the slaves on, while firing at the marines making a stand in the small courtyard. Out of nowhere, both sides stopped and stared as a bullet struck into one of the marines. Soon a hail of rifle fire came down upon the marines. The slave watched in wonder as from behind the buildings corner, a pack of slaves gallantly marched. The slave couldn't believe his eyes: these new slaves were armed with enemy weaponry!
The leading slave sneered, then calmly lifted up his assault rifle. He pulled the trigger and put a bullet in the head of one of the drones. The other slaves started picking out the drones before they had a chance to retaliate. The leading slave marched up to his unarmed brethren after the carnage ended.
"Brothers, I am ending our toil with those brutes. We are going to break our shackles and escape the Nihilanth and his agents. Are you with me?"
"Brother, our life is perfect as it is," one of the slaves said, still surprised. "We are protected by the holy Nihilanth and work for the good of our lives."
"And a good job our lord has done protecting us here," the leader scowled. "We do not work for our good, we work for his benefit. And it is not an occupation we choose, but one which is forced to us upon birth. One in which we toil and are harshly beaten for stopping. Now, are you with me?"
"We are!" an enthusiastic slave said stepping past his companions. "Tell us our assignment in this resistance, and I guarantee we will fulfill it to the best of our abilities!" The others nodded dubiously with him.
"Good," the leader nodded. "I am giving you the honorary task of headcrab combatant," he gestured, and one of his mates carried a writhing bag to them. "They're specially trained to avoid "crabbing" slaves. Let me explain how to fight with them..."
-----
Dylan couldn't understand what was going on. They had traveled past a few buildings, yet things were eerily quiet. The area was littered with bodies, but not just of marines. There were corpses of drones among them. Although the tank was rolling behind them, Dylan couldn't help but feel frightened. Adam seemed to share the same feelings behind him, and was clutching his gun tightly.
"Oh... my... god," a marine said and pointed at a soldier's body. "Look! Bullet holes!"
"Does this mean that we have renegades?" Manners asked. No one could answer, so they continued on. They came to a clearing, and most marines stopped dead in their tracks.
The clearing was littered with beheaded bodies of scientists and marines. In the middle, a cluster of metal bars were placed. On each bar, a bloody head of a human had been stuck on. Dylan wondered who was brutal enough to create such an act. He kept staring in shock, but his thoughts were broken when everything turned red in his eyes for a second. Dylan wondered what it was and turned to ask Adam if he saw anything, but stopped. A small infra- red dot was pointing at Adam's forehead.
"Adam, duck!" he leaped at his friend. They both fell on the ground just as gunfire was heard. A bullet went straight into a nearby marine's leg.
"Shit! Snipers!" Manners cursed, frantically looking around the field for their enemy. Another marine flew backwards from the force as a bullet was imbedded in his head. Dylan saw the dot appear on his stomach, and rolled to the side just as another shot rang. He leaped up and looked at one of the windows. Though it was dark and he couldn't see who was firing, he saw a sniper rifle's barrel sticking out.
"There!" he called and lobbed a grenade into the window. The hole lighted for a second, and the rifle fell from the window. Now a new threat appeared as the marines heard a slave's gibberish talk from above. They looked up to see one pounce from a roof, holding... a headcrab! It landed on one of the marines and stuck the crab onto the man's head. He squirmed for a second, then fell limp. More of these headcrab combatants started leaping down, but now the marines backed away and opened fire.
But Dylan stopped for a second to watch as the slave did the most unexpected thing possible: after crabbing the man, he grabbed the marine's rifle and started firing.
"Oh damn!" Dylan yelled and started shooting at this slave. It collapsed on the body of the headcrabbed soldier. Dylan hoped that was the only alien slave with the ability to use firearms, but his hopes fell as the door to one of the buildings burst open. He looked to see more of the filthy slaves appear, armed with all kinds of weapons. He started backing away as a burly slave stepped out, brandishing a machine gun. Slow backing turned into frantic running as he dashed for cover behind the tank as the gun started firing at them. Most marines did the same thing and hid behind the tank.
Dylan grabbed a grenade and started to pull the pin, when he felt the hard metal of a pistol in the back of his head. He heard alien gibberish and the sound of the trigger being slowly pulled. He spun around and knocked the slave off balance. The alien threw his gun in the air as it collapsed, which Dylan grabbed from midair and emptied into the slave.
"Move for that alley!" Manners yelled to the tank, which started to lurch at the gap between the buildings. The marines ran along with the tank, using it for cover as they fired at he aliens. A soldier dropped dead next do Dylan as the aliens continued their fire. A slave ran through the mass of attacking aliens, and threw a projectile into the air. Only once it started to fall, Dylan saw it was a grenade. He ran backwards and heard as the shell blew up. He slowly turned to see two more men down. He quickly hid behind the tank, as he was a sitting duck alone in the field.
The tank now moved into the alleyway, and the marines ran in front of it. They continued on into another clearing, but dived backwards as a rocket flew right in front of them. Dylan peered behind the corner to see an alien manning a missile turret.
"We can't afford to lose the tank! Henderson, take out that missile launcher before the tank gets into the area!" Manners yelled, and Dylan hurried off, too much in a hurry to question the reason why HE had to take out the machine.
-----
The rebellion's leader watched as one of his faction's members manned the missile turret. The thing worked much like the guns, so the slave didn't have trouble learning to pilot it. The leader was surprised that there were more humans here. He had only a little while ago cleared the area when he put up the decapitated heads for headcrab bait, and didn't expect more to appear.
Now he humored himself watching as one of the silly humans ran from his cover. The missile launcher started firing, but the human was faster and ran from the spot where the rocket struck. The human dived for cover behind one of the barrels holding the strange black flammable liquid.
"Hah! The fool doesn't understand what predicament he's in. It's an easy shot from here!" the leader laughed, and watched in sadistic glee as the missile set off. His eyes were fixed onto the missile as it passed through the air, striking into the oil barrel, making a cosmic explosion. His calm posture, however, changed into worried as something was wrong. Where was the body?
"NO!" he screamed. He had watched the missile so concentrated, that he hadn't watched what the human was doing. He, along with the few slaves with him, looked around for the human.
"There he is!" one yelled, and pointed to a window of one of the buildings. The leader realized the human must have dived through the window into the house. The launcher turned towards, but too slowly: soon the human was next to the launcher and fired a grenade. The leader ran off as the launcher behind him blew up into a smoldering pile of junk metal. Now truly worried, he started scurrying with his companions. Luck was on his side, though: from behind one of the corners came one of his mates on a Hummer.
"What, pray tell, is that?" the leader asked curiously.
"I haven't the slightest clue, sir. But whatever it is, it's surprisingly mobile. Climb aboard!" the slave waved to the leader, who climbed into the Hummer. The others tried to fit in, but not all fitted, and had to make due by hanging on the Hummer, which sped off away from the action.
-----
Dylan sighed as he saw the missile launcher burst in to flames, and ran back over to the other marines. It was safe for the tank to travel on now, which it did. The marines backed up along with the iron monster, firing from behind it. The slaves were slowly starting to stop in their tracks, not wanting to come face to face with the tank's projectiles.
"Major Hickory, sir, we have a problem," Manners called on his radio.
"Again?" Hickory's annoyed answer came.
"This is bad, sir. The alien slaves have the ability and resources to use firearms, grenades, and other weaponry."
"You're kidding. Keep heading for the outer gates, we'll secure the inner gate. I'll send the Apache to patrol around that area."
"Yes, sir," Manners closed the transmission and started to head down the path where the missile launcher had stood moments ago. "This way! The tank can stay here and hold back the aliens!"
-----
The rebellion leader sat along with the driver in the Hummer, amazed by the speed in the thing. He found this new machine quite handy.
Yet his greatest surprise came around the rocky mesa. As the Hummer came around, the leader's eyes fell upon a small heliport with an Apache on it. A small resistance squad of marines were wearily resting, having barely survived a fight with some drones. The leader signaled one of his brothers to climb up and man the gun. The marines watched in horror as their teammates were shred next to them, and soon shared the same fate.
As the gun stopped firing, the leader climbed out of the Hummer and went to take a look at the Apache. He marveled at the metallic bird, then turned towards the other slaves.
"I want you to search the area for more of these toys! You two, come help me study how to pilot this new contraption!"
-----
Dylan and the marines ran down the path after Manners. They passed a mountain on the side, but looked warily at the garage building to their side. Dylan grimly noted that one of the garage doors had been shred open and that it was conveniently empty of cars. The sound of gunfire and tank fire came from behind the corner. They now saw the outer gate, metallic sliding double doors on a wall stamped between two mesas. There were a few guard buildings around the area.
"So, this is our current objective," Manners said. "Now where's..." Manners' words were cut short as he saw what had caused the Team reports lessen. The ground was covered with burning craters, and body parts littered the sand.
"Looks like rocket launcher shots," Adam said as the marines gathered around the crater area.
"If the aliens have rocket launchers, then we're..." Dylan's fears became true as a roaring voice came from above. The marines looked up: three slaves with rocket launchers stood on the roof of one of the security buildings.
"Spread out!" Manners called, and they started running for cover. A few unfortunately slow marines were blown to pieces. The force sent Dylan flying onto the ground. He found himself to be behind a burning Jeep, but another rocket came at him and he watched in awe as the Jeep jumped upwards, then started to plummet at him. Dylan rolled to the side, barely dodging the flaming vehicle. He jumped upwards and ran for cover behind a barrel as the ground around him started to fill with craters.
The marines were making a stand behind Jeeps and rubble, firing at the slaves on top of the building. Dylan decided to run for the Jeeps, considering the barrel a bit too small to be effective. Yet he stopped trying to run for cover as a working Jeep with three aliens came around one of the corners, and straight at him.
The aliens stared maniacally as Dylan, instead of jumping to the side, ran straight at the Jeep. At the last moment, Dylan dived forwards, smashing through the windshield and between the aliens on the seats. Ironically, the same thing had happened earlier, only it had been the alien which had suddenly appeared among the passengers. Not wasting time though, Dylan immediately landed a punch on the driving alien. He then started to push it out, and to help out the job, stuck a bullet or two into the alien's head. The dead slave rolled out of the car as Dylan took the wheel.
The other slaves angrily clawed at Dylan, who shrugged the pain off and veered the Jeep left. It started suddenly go straight at the building the slaves stood on.
"Buh-bye," Dylan grinned dropping a pinless grenade into the Jeep and jumping out. The car slammed into the security building, causing an explosion which shook the very foundations of the building. One of the slaves looked worriedly down as the wall crumbled under him, causing him to fall. Two marines picked him out quickly and rejoiced. Their celebration was cut short as another rocket struck one of them in the chest.
The aliens were apparently not satisfied with fighting Dam Team with cars, and down the road they had come from came the same Hummer the slave leader had escaped on. Dylan scurried for cover behind a wrecked car as the ground near him started filling with bullets. One of the remaining two rocket trooper slaves leaped off the building roof and onto the car's roof, where they continued pelting.
Now all marines stood up to run around, since cover wasn't going to be of use against such a mobile enemy. The Hummer u-turned towards the marines, and Dylan started to run as two rockets started passing towards them. Dylan ran from one and dived over the other, cuddling into a ball to survive the initial explosion. He stood up, only to duck as he was fired from the roof of the Hummer. The car soon stopped taking aim at him, and concentrated on killing the other marines. Dylan fired a grenade from his rifle, which soared across the sky, blowing up near the Hummer. It winded for a moment, then straightened out and turned to make another attack.
No one was trying to kill Dylan at the moment, so he started firing at the attacking vehicle, which came closer and closer... in fact, Dylan realized, the driver was going to ram him! He fell flat onto the ground, then rolled onto his back as the Hummer drove over him. He fired at the bottom of the car with his rifle, which seemed to have effect as the Hummer no longer drove in a straight line. Then a rocket flew only a few feet away from him.
For a second, Dylan didn't know what was going on. He only felt himself float and suddenly land on the ground. For a second he could only hazily pick out the sound of gunfire, and wearily stood up. That blast had hurt a lot. Soon his mind cleared and he realized it'd be hurting a lot more if he just sat there. So, he jumped upwards, and saw two things. First, the rocket trooper on the roof loaded another rocket and prepared to fire at him. Second, the Hummer was about to pass him.
"Only one chance to end this," Dylan shook his head. Hadn't he suffered enough? Putting his plan into motion, Dylan leaped forwards just as the slave fired another rocket. He flew forwards, and just at the right moment, the Hummer appeared next to him. Dylan pushed forwards on the hood, and flew past the Hummer. The rocket, however, struck straight into the engine. The Hummer blew up, skidding forwards as a wreck. The gunner wildly shook on the machine gun, firing upwards. He accidentally killed the remaining rocket slave before loosing his grip on the teetering gun and falling down, breaking his neck.
Dylan slowly stood up from the ground, and looked over at the marines. They were cheering at him. He smiled back, then collapsed from exhaustion.
-----
The slaves relentlessly barraged the tank. They had already given up using the human weapons, and now just crawled over the thing. One of the slaves found the hatch to the tank and opened it. He scurried in to find the machine that run this hellish monster, and soon found the reason: more humans.
Blood squirted out of the hatch and into the sky for a brief moment, then the slaves watched as the alien climbed out, drenched in human blood.
"Go get our leader. Tell him the silver beast has been tamed," the slave called to the others, and a group ran off while the others stayed to cheer their great victory.
-----
"Sir, come see this," Adam called from the top of the gate. He had climbed up onto the wall along with a few marines to scout for aliens, and the area was quiet, except...
Manners climbed up on the ladder and came to watch while a few marines tended Dylan on the ground. "What in the name of God..?"
They could see in the distance the large fencing shielding Black Mesa from the world. Behind it, they saw a dust cloud coming at them. As it came closer, Manners saw that it was a rugged group of trucks and some types of tanks that he hadn't seen before. They solemnly watched as the group crashed through the 10-foot fence and continued on towards Black Mesa. The marines uneasily gripped their weapons, unsure if these newcomers were friend or foe.
